Cette Sète, C'est Etonnant! (1)

As the train pulled into Sète, I decided this was going to be a good couple of days. It looked beautiful! I remembered talking to a lady in a shoe shop at home before I left, and she said she'd lived in this town, and found the South of France to be the most HB-like. So, when I was planning my holiday, this kinda encouraged me to pick Sète.

Got out my trusty itinerary with printed map and set off to the youth hostel. Loved the centre of town, with the canal running through, and the tall, colourful buildings on either side.

Was quite enjoying a relaxing wander through the old streets, but then my directions started leading me uphill. The last stretch was really a pinch! Then I got to the gates of the hostel and was faced with steps. I literally was thinking "is this a joke or what?"

Anywho, onwards and upwards... the girl on reception was really nice and, though she couldn't let me into the room since it was being cleaned, let me leave my suitcase locked in the office for the afternoon. Also, beautiful view from the hostel. The only gutting thing about this was that my camera battery had run out, and now I was gonna have an arvo where I couldn't take pix. OMG! How to cope?!

Another advantage of my uphill trek: I'd passed a resto with a ten euro set menu. So, I retraced my steps and had lunch in a mini-Thailand! It was a really cute restaurant, with nice decor and calming music. Happy, tranquil times!

Then off to the tourist office... it took me a while to find, as some of the signs seemed to be sending me conflicting messages. I think this could have been because they were designed for drivers, and there were far more direct ways to go if you were on foot! Oh well. I made it in the end, and bought a City Pass, which entitled me to:

• an audioguided walking tour
• a museum pass
• a free 'welcome drink' with a meal purchased at selected restaurants
• a 'typical gift', which turned out to be navettes cettoises (biscuits)

As I had the afternoon to fill in, I decided to take the museum option, and set off to the Paul Valéry museum. Quite nice views just walking there! Spent an afternoon trying to look at art intelligently. Quite enjoyed it, but can only do it for so long. And I'm definitely more into the landscape/portrait-style art (note my lack of proper terminology!) than the impressionist/modernist stuff. It never ceases to amaze me, the way that artists can (for example) make a tree out of several dabs of different-coloured paint and a few brushstrokes. If I tried, it'd just be a blob.

After checking out town, decided to check in (isn't English weird sometimes?!) at the hostel, and then go out in search of dinner. This hostel had a kitchen, so microwave meals it was.

When I came back to eat, got into a convo with the girl from reception and her boyfriend, as they were kinda considering a trip to either Oz or NZ in the future. Of course, I said they should pick NZ. Apparently, they're interested in hiking, so perfect, right?! Ended up having a good long chat with them, as they were both really nice.

Then it was off to bed. Only one other person in my 6-person room, so pretty good deal!

Sens-ational

Can't get these pix to move where I want, so will have to be pix first and text later. Too annoying!

Me with my 'French name': ie the French word for Libya.

Majorettes at the Sens Xmas market

Sens Xmas market

Sens Cathedral, where I finally lit a candle for the miners.

Sabrina being proud of her new town!

Sorry, couldn't resist a cheesy pun since I couldn't come up with anything original!

Day 2 in Sens started with a big sleep-in I had been pretty exhausted after the big journey, and was trying to fight off signs of a cold, so it probably did me good!

Next mission was to look at another apartment for Sabrina (which she ended up taking). A wander in town.

And then... off to the Christmas market! This turned out to be a fairly small affair, but had a look around the stalls at the products on offer. There were some rather tasty-looking foods, especially at an ethnic stall from I'm not really sure where, but possibly somewhere MIddle-Eastern?!, but we had already bought our lunch from La Mie Caline.

After checking out the market, we decided to go and eat aforementioned lunch, but didn't really know where would be a good place. Ended up sitting in a bus stop in amongst lots of HLM (more or less equivalent to state housing). I very much enjoyed my beignet gout chocolat: kinda doughnut-like thing, but without the hole in the middle. Instead, there was chocolate!!

Headed back to the Xmas market to see the marionette display (accompanied by some dude that Sabrina had asked for directions, and who seemed to want to befriend us. This was the first time we were asked if we were speaking German).. Don't know if it's just me who hadn't heard of this before but, if you're the same, it was basically young girls dancing with batons. The youngest ones were especially cute! One of the tracks was a sped-up version of La Vie En Rose, so will have to search that one out. Quite liked it!

Didn't really know what to do with ourselves after this, so ended up going to a museum. Aside from anything else, a good way to escape the cold (or so we thought, until we got down into the basement). The lady on reception asked if we were speaking German (twice in a day! Is it the NZ accent throwing them off?!) I found the museum pretty interesting, as it had all kinds of info on the area... going right back to time periods that I don't know the name of in English and have forgotten the word for in French. Go me. Anyway, iron age and before. There were old arrow-heads, and mosaics, pieces of stone facades, tombstone enscriptions, paintings... There was even a hat worn by Napoleon at Waterloo. Well, provided I understood that sign correctly. This was the one downside of the museum. Museums are tiring in another language! Took me rather a long time if I wanted to read the notices telling me what the display was all about.

Went back to the hotel to be lazy for a while, then re-emerged to get a kebab and a crepe for dinner, before calling it a day.

Day 3... well, we did a quick walk in the am. Found the pools and a game of handball (don't quite understand how it works, but it seems pretty popular over here). Also found a sign with the French word for Libya on it... this is what my name sounds like with a French accent. So much so that, when people have trouble with my name, I pronounce it the French way and say "like the country."

Then it was time to get back on the train... 1 hour to Paris, approx 2 hours break in Paris, 6 hours to Toulouse, 30 min break, 1 hour to Saint Go!

Tried to make use of my time in Paris... went between the train stations on foot at a relaxed pace, so saw a nice park, walked over the Seine, past one entrance of the national library (wow, it is massive!), then carried on past the station a bit to get some food. After Kate mentioned that she missed Indian food when we were in Luchon, I was sold on a take-away Indian sandwich. Which I ate in a nearby park, while dripping sauce on myself. Must stop doing that every time I travel.

Then back into the train... this trip was a bit of a trial as I didn't quite manage to doze but was too lazy to read AND was trying to ration my tissues to last the trip! But I survived. :)

Actually saw someone I knew at the Toulouse station (amazing!)... the Bolivian assistant who works at the same school as Kate. So that was pretty nice.

Got back to Saint Go pretty late, so shoved down some food and then went to bed... back to reality!